The U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C. Depositphotos
The United States government has imposed economic sanctions on a Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated drug trafficking organization (DTO), three of its alleged members and three companies.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury (UST) said in a statement Wednesday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had designated the Valenzuela DTO and its presumed leader Juan Francisco Valenzuela Valenzuela in accordance with a 2021 executive order — “Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade.”
OFAC also designated “two Mexican nationals and Valenzuela DTO members, Héctor Alfonso Araujo Peralta and Raúl Rivas Chaires, as well as three Mexico-based transportation companies … for having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production,” UST said.
The department said that the Valenzuela DTO was originally established as a transportation cell but evolved into a “sophistical network that became invaluable to Sinaloa Cartel leadership.”
A U.S. Treasury graphics shows the individuals and organizations recently sanctioned. OFAC
It said the organization was run by three Valenzuela siblings but Juan Francisco is “the last remaining sibling involved” due to the arrest of his brother and sister by U.S. authorities in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
UST said that “under the umbrella of the Sinaloa Cartel, the Valenzuela DTO is involved in the importation and transport of multi-ton quantities of illicit drugs, including methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, from Mexico to the United States.”
Juan Francisco Valenzuela, Araujo and Rivas all face trafficking charges in the U.S. but remain at large.
As a result of the sanctions imposed Wednesday, “all property and interests in property of the designated individuals and entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC,” UST said.
It also said that “persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated today may themselves be exposed to sanctions or subject to an enforcement action.”
“… Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States that causes the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually, as well as countless more non-fatal overdoses,” UST said.
Brian E. Nelson, undersecretary of UST’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said that the Valenzuela DTO “fuels the ongoing drug epidemic we face in the United States.”
“… Starving this network of resources will help deprive the Sinaloa Cartel of critical support it needs to traffic its dangerous illicit drugs,” he said.
Formerly led by imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico’s two most powerful criminal organizations, the other being the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)
Students look at textbooks at beginning of 2022-23 school year FOTO: DANIEL AUGUSTO /CUARTOSCURO.COM
The federal government said on Oct. 19 that it will comply with a court order against the implementation of its new curriculum model.
Public Education Minister Leticía Ramírez said that a pilot program for the new curriculum, which was slated to commence later this month, will be temporarily suspended.
The program was scheduled to begin in 960 schools across all 32 federal entities this week, but the organization Educación con Rumbo (Education with Direction) successfully challenged the curriculum model, arguing that it violates the constitution.
Ramírez said that the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) has initiated its own legal action and expects a favorable outcome soon.
President López Obrador with Leticia Ramírez Amaya, who was appointed Public Education Minister in August. Leticia Ramírez Amaya Twitter
Although the pilot program won’t commence this week, training for preschool, primary school and secondary school teachers on the implementation of the new curriculum will continue, the education minister said.
The government is seeking to overhaul the way in which students are taught in Mexican schools.
The Reforma newspaper reported earlier this year that the new education model is characterized by its promotion of a community rather than global outlook, its elimination of concepts considered to be neoliberal (a dirty word, according to President López Obrador) and its support for teachers’ educational autonomy.
Marx Arriaga, SEP’s director of education materials, has already overseen a process to develop new textbooks that confine neoliberalism to the dustbin of history.
He said in April that the new curriculum model will place much greater emphasis on sharing and the common good rather than pitting individual students against each other. The model will be “libertarian” and “humanist” and put an end to racism in the education system and “standardized tests that segregate society,” he said.
Roslyn weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before hitting the coast of Nayarit. Twitter @eraelitodolo
Hurricane Roslyn claimed two lives in Nayarit after making landfall as a Category 3 storm early Sunday.
A 74-year-old man was killed in Mexcaltitán, a “magical town” in the municipality of Santiago Ixcuintla, when a beam fell on his head, Nayarit authorities told the news agency Reuters, while a 39-year-old woman died in the municipality of Rosamorada when a fence collapsed.
The fatalities occurred inland from Santa Cruz, a small community on the northern coast of Nayarit near where Roslyn made landfall at 5:20 a.m. local time Sunday, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC). Roslyn reached Category 4 status on Saturday but weakened before battering the coast of Nayarit.
The storm weakened further after making landfall and was downgraded to a tropical storm by Sunday afternoon. At 10 p.m. Sunday, the NHC said that Roslyn had dissipated and the storm’s remnants were 80 kilometers west-northwest of Monterrey, Nuevo León. Maximum sustained wind speeds were just 45 km/h, down from a peak of about 210 km/h.
Government workers clear a road blocked by fallen trees on Sunday afternoon in Nayarit. Twitter @MiguelANavarroQ
The hurricane caused flooding, damaged homes and toppled trees in Nayarit, including in state capital Tepic. Photos showed cars submerged in water and houses with severely damaged roofs. Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro said on Twitter that fallen trees and mudslides had obstructed some highways in the Pacific coast state.
José Antonio Barajas, mayor of San Blas — the municipality where Roslyn made landfall — said in a video message that the hurricane also knocked power out. Close to 160,000 customers in Nayarit, Jalisco and Sinaloa were left without power, according to the Federal Electricity Commission, but service was restored for over 70% by Monday at 11 a.m. Central Time.
“The winds from this hurricane were, in truth, tremendous,” Barajas said. “The sound of the wind was strong.”
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said early Sunday afternoon that Roslyn only caused minor damage in that state and that people who evacuated could return to their homes. He also said that operations at the Puerto Vallarta airport had resumed. Heavy rain and powerful waves were reported in Vallarta, located about 140 kilometers south of the point where Roslyn made landfall.
The Associated Press reported that some beachside eateries sustained damage in the resort city.
“The biggest effect [of the hurricane] was from the waves, on some of the beachside infrastructure [but] we did not have any significant damage,” said local Civil Protection chief Adrián Bobadilla.
A beginner student at La Favorita Sarape School in Saltillo begins their learning journey making a swatch on a frame loom, using only threads and their fingers.
One of Mexico’s most iconic garments is in a race against time to avoid extinction: the traditional sarape.
If you’ve ever watched a film in the Western genre or anything historic related to the north of Mexico, you have likely seen these bright, multicolored textile coverings that kept generations of herders and others warm.
Unfortunately, if you have even been in any tourist market, you have seen cheap knock-offs that trivialize the sarape’s cultural and historical importance.
The sarape is the result of a northward push by the Spanish and their indigenous allies after the fall of the Mexica city of Tenochtitlán. Areas like Coahuila were significantly drier than what they were used to in their central Mexican homelands, but Tlaxcaltecos and other Mesoamerican groups nonetheless transplanted much of their way of life here.
The La Favorita Sarape School’s banner, made as — what else? — a sarape.
The Saltillo sarape of today is likely a modification of a garment called a tilma, a rectangular fabric that was used to wrap around the body and even to carry things. Sarapes are found in both Coahuila and Tlaxcala, and both claim denomination of origin rights over it.
Sarapes in Saltillo and in Tlaxcala are similar, but the sarape is more strongly associated with the city of Saltillo. Real sarapes are handwoven on pedal looms with cotton and wool and have brightly colored stripes and large geometric patterns.
Such work, however, has nearly died out.
According to renowned folk art expert Marta Turok, by the 1990s, only one traditional workshop existed in Saltillo proper. So in the 2000s, the state decided to step in, first founding a museum and then a formal program for the training and certification of sarape weavers.
The result is La Favorita Sarape School, located in Saltillo’s historic center. It is Mexico’s only fully-accredited technical school dedicated to a traditional handcraft.
The school has attracted students from all walks of life, who get involved for both economic and cultural reasons. Students who complete the two-year program get state-recognized diplomas, and those who create fine sarapes can have them certified by state cultural authorities.
The school’s organization may be modern, but the skills it teaches are traditional. The goal is to create new generations of weavers who value the art.
The 50 pedal looms used by students, as well as by graduates working on special projects, are heart of the school. They are faithful recreations of the looms brought by the Spanish to Mexico.
The school’s director, Francisco Javier Reyes, left, gives an interview to a charro association. ” The Saltillo sarape is a national emblem,” he says. La Escuela Favorita/Facebook
But students don’t get to work with the giant looms right away. They first must learn how to card, spin and dye wool. Then they make their first swatches using small frames, weaving with their fingers to get a feel for wool weft, cotton warp and how colors mingle.
When they do graduate to looms, they first make rugs and wall hangings because sarapes use much finer threads, which allows the finished piece to wrap around the body but are also more exacting and time-consuming to work with. In particular, the creation of intricate geometric patterns requires good eyes and knowing exactly when to change thread colors.
The lead weaver at the school is Rubén Tamayo, who began his career as an apprentice to one of the old weavers. He came to teaching at La Favorita through weaving research projects with state cultural authorities. It has been a perfect fit.
“When you are an artisan, it is a great responsibility because you are conserving a part of the culture,” says the maestro. “It is important to do excellent work because the sarapes represent the city and state.”
But the school’s work doesn’t end there. The institution has also been a strong advocate for a return to natural dyeing, something that had completely died out in the state. This effort is spearheaded by graduate María López Gutiérrez.
One peculiarity of Saltillo sarapes is that the stripes are of graduated colors, making the dyeing of the wool more challenging. The colors were originally obtained using natural materials from Mesoamerica such as the cochineal insect and indigo.
As part of the initiative, the school invited experts such as anthropologist and folk art expert Marta Turok along with weavers from Oaxaca to give workshops, but much of the work of bringing these methods back to sarapes was done by López.
The school has received recognition at the national level, but maintaining the program and supporting its graduates is not easy. The first problem is that authentic handwoven wool sarapes carry a hefty price tag due to the time and talent needed to make them. Such garments are generally made for experienced collectors who know their worth.
Master weaver Rubén Tamayo with a work he made on one of the school’s 50 pedal looms that are recreations of looms brought to Mexico in colonial times.
But to make weaving more economically viable, teachers and students have developed new products — bracelets and other jewelry, decorative objects and ore — and collaborations.
The school has also created modern clothing with sarape-inspired decoration, and with European artists to create fine tapestries. They’ve also partnered with the state’s budding smithing artisans to put mini-sarapes into silver frames for necklaces.
Despite all this, filling the loom stations has not been easy. The school’s first generation of graduates numbered nearly 30, but it has dropped off since then, with only about 50 or so completing the four-semester course to date. But the school is the craft’s only real hope because, as Tamayo says, there is no one left willing to go through the rugged apprenticeship process that he did as a very young man.
Turok agrees, noting that the traditional handcrafts of the north do not receive the same respect as those from the center and south of the country.
But, the school and the Coahuila government will continue, says director Francisco Javier Reyes, because “… the Saltillo sarape is a national emblem, and part of Mexican identity.”
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
Cebollitas — spring onions — are available year-round and deserve a spot in your regular culinary
repertoire.
If you live, or spend any time, in Mexico, cebollitas — spring onions — are no doubt so familiar you don’t give them a second thought. And while they are delicious when grilled and eaten with tacos, carne asada and other traditional dishes, they also lend themselves delectably to all sorts of other recipes.
Spring onions, or “Mexican green onions,” as they’re sometimes called, are simply young “regular” onions harvested before maturity. They’re sweeter and milder, with a slightly herbal flavor, and have thinner skins than they will when they’ve reached their adult size.
White ones are most commonly found, but sometimes you’ll see purple ones too. Unlike scallions, spring onions have a small bulb at the end.
Like everything, the fresher the better! They should be bright in color, the tops not wilted, and the bulb should feel firm.
Spring onion flatbread is a delicious and decadent option for breakfast, brunch or as an appetizer.
They keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator (wrapped in a paper towel and sealed in a plastic bag), and while they’re great grilled, spring onions add snap, color and texture eaten raw in salads. They’re a bright unexpected flavor in quiche, pastas, soups, stir-fries or omelets. Add them — remove the thick outer stems and slice thinly — just like with regular onions.
In Japan, spring onion flatbread is a popular morning snack sold by street vendors. Some recipes call for yeast, but others — like the one included below — are a more simple pancake-like batter.
To make your own grilled onions at home, rinse onions and remove the roots and any tough outer leaves. Cut to the desired length. Spray with olive oil or drizzle with a little oil and mix by hand. Grill on a hot barbecue for 15–20 minutes until nicely charred, turning occasionally. Serve when tender-crisp.
Deep-Fried Spring Onions
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup buttermilk or water-thinned yogurt, mixed well
1 cup flour
8 spring onions
Salt
In a large, deep pot or skillet, pour 2 inches of oil and heat on medium-high till hot. Put buttermilk (or substitute) and flour in separate shallow bowls. Trim onion tops so they fit comfortably in pan. Remove outer layer; trim bottoms, then halve lengthwise. Dip onions in buttermilk, dredge in flour and fry 3-4 minutes until golden brown and tender. Drain on paper towel-lined plate; season with salt.
Spring Onion Pancakes
Pancakes:
2 cups flour
1 cup boiling water
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 cup thinly sliced spring onions, from trimmed tops and bulbs
Salt
Dipping sauce:
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp. finely sliced spring onions
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Combine flour and boiling water in a large bowl. Stir to combine until dough forms. Transfer to lightly floured surface; knead until a very smooth, slightly tacky ball forms, 3–4 minutes.
Place dough ball in a bowl; cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let rest 30 minutes at room temperature, or up to overnight in refrigerator. Meanwhile, mix 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil and sesame oil in a small bowl.
To make the dipping sauce: in a small bowl, stir together vinegar, soy sauce, spring onions and red pepper flakes.
When ready to cook, divide the dough into four balls of equal size. Working with one ball at a time (keep others covered) roll into an 8” disk and brush with thin layer of oil mixture.
Then roll tightly into a thin rope and twist into a tight spiral, tucking the outer end underneath. Using the palm of your hand, flatten the spiral, then gently roll out again into an 8” disk. Brush the top with another thin layer of oil and scatter with ¼ cup sliced green onions.
Wake up a simple pasta dish by adding the sweet snap of spring onions.
Repeat process, rolling disk again into a tight rope, re-forming it into a spiral, and then rerolling into an 8” disk. (This lamination process makes a flaky pancake.) Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Heat one-quarter of the vegetable oil in an 8-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering; gently add first pancake. Cook, undisturbed, until golden on one side. Flip and cook until golden on underside, about 2–3 minutes per side. Remove to paper-towel-lined plate; season immediately with salt.
Repeat with remaining pancakes, adding more oil if necessary. Cut pancakes into triangles and serve with dipping sauce or plain yogurt.
Pickled Spring Onions
1 bunch spring onions (approximately ½ lb. trimmed and cleaned)
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup water
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1/8 tsp. red chili flakes
Optional: ½ tsp. celery seed
Wash and thinly slice trimmed spring onions into thin rounds. In small pan, combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, celery seeds (if using) and red chili flakes. Bring to a boil. Once the brine is simmering, add onions. Stir to combine and cook until onions are heated through, 2–3 minutes.
Remove pan from heat; spoon onions and liquid into prepared glass jar. Close lid tightly and allow to cool. Once cooled, store in refrigerator; let rest at least two days before using. Keeps about 2 weeks.
Pasta with Zucchini, Spring Onions and Herbs
1 pound rigatoni pasta
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup thinly sliced spring onions
3½ cups zucchini, thinly sliced
½-1 tsp. red pepper flakes
¼ cup crema, heavy cream, half and half or plain full-fat yogurt
Salt and pepper
¼ cup fresh minced herbs (mint, parsley, cilantro)
Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta as directed on package. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes; sauté 30 seconds.
Add onions; cook 2 minutes until translucent. Add zucchini; cook 3 minutes until just tender.
Drain pasta; add to skillet with zucchini and onion; toss well. Stir in herbs. Add dairy/yogurt and stir until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Tueste Cafe is one of an ever-growing number of cafes in Coataepc that offer the true coffee aficionado an experience they'll appreciate. Sarah DeVries
There’s something very special about watching the ceremony of a cup of coffee being carefully and precisely prepared just for you.
As the exact amount of coffee grains – medium ground – are scooped up and then placed carefully into the filter of the V60 coffee dripper, Karla explains the flavors I’ll perceive: fruity, not unlike the sweetness in apples and peaches. Acidic. The coffee is grown locally, and Tueste, the coffee bar in nearby Coatepec, Veracruz, where I’m enjoying my first official cata (tasting), clearly takes every step of the process seriously.
Like many select cafés in the area, the baristas here appreciate the art of a good cup of coffee. It’s treated with both curiosity and reverence, and even those who know more than I can ever hope to about the drink seem to be too in awe of the vast array of experiences it provides to bother being pretentious about it.
Veracruz, and especially Coatepec, Veracruz, is the land of coffee.
Come to Coatepec for the coffee, stay for the picturesque experiences: the town’s main plaza at night. Sectur
Okay, fine. Lots of places are “the land of coffee,” but café veracruzano especially stands out for its excellence. Veracruz is the first place through which coffee was brought to Mexico by the Spaniards (which was really the least they could do for Mexico, all things considered), where it took to the land like a fish in water.
Coffee has a few requirements for survival: lots of water; a mild temperature; taller trees around it to give it shade.
Check, check, and check: the Cloud Forest in which Coatepec is located is officially coffee-plant heaven. And the coffee lovers among us might very well hold it in the same high regard.
While coffee got its original foothold in Mexico in Veracruz, it’s since been surpassed by Chiapas when it comes to the volume produced (Puebla is next in line).
Most coffee in the state is grown by small producers; indeed, 95.5% of fincas are smaller than three hectares. Most coffee growers sell their fresh harvests to larger national and international corporations (if you’ve seen Nescafé’s “Veracruz” soluble blend, you’ll see a good example of where that coffee ends up).
According to sustainable specialty coffee producer Diego Porras, this puts many coffee growers at a fairly large economic disadvantage: with three to four major corporations as the main purchasers for the crop, prices stay low.
This in turn means that much of the coffee sold to “the big guys” is not necessarily of the best quality, as it makes little sense to nurture and grow something magnificent for such a small return.
Luckily for those giant players, most of the world is perfectly fine with mediocre coffee; even in Mexico, the majority of those who drink coffee go with a soluble option — instant coffee.
Coatepec cafes have a great advantage: high-quality coffee growers right outside town. Many cafes like Tueste offer tastings and events around coffee. Sarah DeVries
Over the past decade or so, however, the market for specialty coffee has been growing. There is even a coffee festival every May in Coatepec. More and more specialized coffee bars have popped up here to do what they do best to satisfy a more sophisticated and enthusiastic clientele.
Some, like Tueste, offer courses and tastings. All of them offer a fantastic coffee-drinking experience, and their presence means that some coffee growers in the area can afford to spend the time and care growing and nurturing the state’s most famous plant; some even shepherd it the rest of the way to its final product, opening “finca to table” coffee bars of their own.
The nature is there, but the nurture is what takes it over the finish line, after all.
And while there are other places throughout the country in which a sizable portion of the population appreciates a really good cup of coffee, Coatepec is a town that sticks out to the fan base: specialty coffee shops there abound, and its economy benefits largely from every piece of the plant-to-cup production line.
At any given moment walking through the streets, one can smell the roasting or brewing of coffee. Add to that the cool and often drizzly climate, mountain views and colorful downtown architecture, and there really is a lot to love.
I asked Karla why she thought there had been such a boom in specialty coffee lately in a place that has truly always deserved it. Coffee is a world of adventure that one would be hard-pressed to stop exploring, she said.
Porras would agree: sometimes the way a cup of coffee turns out “can even depend on the mood one’s in — or on the weather,” he says with a laugh.
As I ride home to Xalapa from Coatepec, the rain continues to drizzle onto the coffee plants below. I might not sleep that night, but I do go to bed happy.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, https://sarahedevries.substack.com/
A woman pushes a float at the Mexico City's 2016 Day of the Dead parade. Depositphotos
Starting this weekend, a wide range of activities over a twelve-day period will take place in CDMX to commemorate Day of the Dead, one of the most important and sacred holidays in Mexican culture. From the traditional annual Day of the Dead parade to nightly experiences and alebrijes contest, Mexico City will host a busy cultural calendar dedicated to the dead.
The theme of this year’s celebration will be “México: The navel of the Moon”, which allures to the meaning of the word Mexico itself. According to Mexican tradition, the word Mexico comes from the Nahuatl words metztli and xictli, which together translates as “the center of the moon.”
The festivities will start at 12 p.m. on Oct. 22 with the Alebrijes parade, which will showcase 200 gigantic artisanal statues created in different parts of the country. Starting in the Zócalo and finishing at the Ángel de la Independencia, the alebrijes — animals with fantastical features and picturesque striking colors — will stay on display along the sidewalks of Reforma until Nov. 6.
Technological novelties will also take the stage at the celebration. A QR code will create access to a story told by seven themed characters including one called Moon and another called Metztli in reference to the meaning of the word Mexico. And the Day of the Dead parade, which will take place on Oct. 29 at 5 p.m., will be streamed into the metaverse for the first time — meaning it will be available to watch from any place on earth. A contemporary drone and light show will also take its part at the end of the tour.
The Día de Muertos parade, one of the most anticipated events of the season, will showcase 39 parade floats — including a motorized float for the Mexican soccer team — and four gigantic balloons inspired by pre-Hispanic legends and by the catrinas. Reproductions of artworks from Mexican artists like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo will also be displayed and the “princess of Mexican music,” Angela Aguilar, will offer a free concert in the Zócalo at the end of the event.
Among other activities, Chapultepec park will offer free nightly experiences called “Iluminando Almas” (“Illuminating Souls”) which will take place on the nights of Oct. 29 and 30 as well as Nov. 1 and 2. The traditional Festival of Ofrendas And Flower Arrangements will take place from Oct. 28 to Nov. 2 in the Centro Histórico, where a gigantic ofrenda will also be placed in the Zócalo.
Nightly walks around Mexico City’s downtown are also encouraged as 8.7 km of buildings will be illuminated with Day of the Dead images such as cempasúchil — Mexico’s seasonal flower — and José Guadalupe Posada’sfamous catrinas.
The burnt remains of the tanker in the México neighborhood of Aguascalientes. Facebook / Al tiro Aguascalientes
A huge fire broke out Thursday after a tanker truck transporting fuel collided with an overpass next to a rail line in Aguascalientes city.
The truck’s tank exploded due to the impact, causing an enormous blaze that damaged over 100 houses and scores of vehicles. No fatalities were reported, but the driver of the truck sustained a minor arm injury and at least two people were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation.
The driver, reportedly from Guadalajara, was later arrested, while those hospitalized were discharged on Friday.
Most reports said that the truck crashed into a train, but Aguascalientes fire chief Miguel Murillo said that it collided with an overpass by the railroad. One video shared on Twitter shows a freight train traveling through the flames as smoke billows into the air. It also shows a family with two young children getting out of their car to get away from the danger.
Hundreds of families had to evacuate their homes as a result of the dramatic crash, which occurred in the south of the state capital in the late afternoon. Aguascalientes Mayor Leo Montañez said Friday that 15 homes were completely destroyed.
#ÚLTIMAHORA | En la capital de #Aguascalientes, se acaba de dar un choque de una unidad que transportaba material flamable con un tren, sobre la avenida Aguascalientes; al menos dos mil personas fueron evacuadas pic.twitter.com/StXZACbE0j
Drivers and passengers run away from the flames in the aftermath of the tanker’s explosion.
Authorities set up shelters for people who had nowhere to go after evacuating their homes in the México neighborhood of Aguascalientes city. Some hotels also offered rooms to those in need.
Montañez shared photos of the cleanup efforts on his public Facebook page on Friday morning. The mayor also posted an image of a firefighter with two dogs she rescued, praising Emma García’s “bravery and humanism” in the aftermath of Thursday’s incident.
A similar incident occurred in Aguascalientes in February 2019 when a tanker truck carrying gasoline was struck by a freight train. The driver of the tanker and a passenger died trapped in the truck’s cab after the vehicle exploded and caught fire.
The Guadalajara Zoo is the only one in Latin America housing a family of orangutans. All seven of them were born in the zoo.
The zoos of my childhood were places where miserably unhappy animals paced away their lives in cages of steel, concrete and glass.
Fortunately, a revolution took place in the world of zookeeping, thanks to people who really love animals, and many of today’s zoos are radically different. One of the happiest I’ve ever seen — for the animals, their keepers and visitors — is the Guadalajara Zoo.
Widely considered the best not only in Mexico but in all of Latin America, El Zoológico de Guadalajara has been a pioneer and innovator. They have — among many, many other attractions — a teleférico (cable car system) called Sky Zoo, a safari park, the Orangutan Skyway, an interactive museum and a first-class aquarium.
Are you looking for unusual creatures like manatees, Komodo dragons, axolotls or Antarctic penguins? You’ll find them here!
A Fischer’s lovebird, left, and a masked lovebird having some downtime. Both are originally from Tanzania.
This zoo is also remarkable for its success in animal reproduction: everything from Bengal tigers and rhinos to jaguars, gorillas and even the grey Mexican wolf, which is extinct in nature, has been bred here.
I recently had an opportunity to wander about the Guadalajara Zoo with its public relations director, Danae Vázquez, whose name and face are well known to the public all over Latin America, thanks to 485 YouTube videos (“Desde el Zoológico” ) which she and her team have made on every conceivable aspect of animals and nature.
“One of the things that makes our zoo different,” Danae told me, “is its location. The zoo is perched right at the edge of the beautiful Huentitán Canyon, which is 500 meters deep. So we have a spectacular view that would be hard to match anywhere else.
“This location also has the perfect topography for creating enclosures where the animals can live in natural environments, surrounded by trees, rocks, streams, hills and gullies — and we have 50 hectares of this! So you don’t see many cages here, and animals feel at home.“
Gentoo penguins in the zoo’s Antarctica display. Gentoos are the fastest-swimming penguins in the world.
Danae had promised me a behind-the-scenes look at the zoo.
“And we’re going to start in our kitchen,” she told me with sparkling eyes. “Many people assume that a zoo gives its animals leftovers, food that people don’t want to eat. Let me take you on a quick tour, and I’ll show you just what it is we feed to our guests at this zoo.”
Well, I have to admit my mouth was watering minutes after starting this tour. Danae kept showing me fruits and vegetables of far better quality than those I normally see in supermarkets: beautiful bell peppers, celery, apples, papayas, mandarins, berries and the plumpest, juiciest grapes you could ever desire.
I discovered that there is practically an army of cooks and experts here, preparing thousands of delicious meals for creatures ranging from black mambas to black bears.
The writer gets a ticklish experience feeding a giraffe. Danae Vázquez
After that, Danae led me around the zoo to some of her favorite places. In each of them, I found myself interacting with delightful creatures: there I was with exotic birds landing on my shoulders and head, waiting their turn to peck on a seed stick in my hand. Next, I was scratching the leathery back of Maite, a huge rhinoceros dearly beloved by Danae:
“She was having terrible problems until we discovered, to our surprise, that she’s allergic to dust, which irritates her eyes. Now we wet down her territory in the morning so she can enjoy the outdoors. And in the afternoon, when things dry up, we bring Maite indoors — where she is obviously happy to have an occasional visitor to scratch her back.”
Next, we were off to visit the giraffes, but it was far more than a visit. We were handed carrot and cucumber sticks (of the highest quality, of course) by an attendant and encouraged to feed them to several giraffes looking down at us from the other side of a high fence.
Well, I can testify that it is really a unique experience to feel the palm of your hand tickled by the big, thick, purple tongue of a giraffe!
At this spot in the zoo, umbrellas must be kept closed. Read on to find out why.
As we moved about the zoo, Danae mentioned that every day, after 6 p.m. (when the public leaves), “Many animals living down in Huentitán Canyon come up to the zoo to pay us a visit: foxes, skunks, macaws and even a yellow-throated toucan (not one of ours), for example. The toucan comes to talk to the macaws and, of course, we feed him.”
At this point, we were walking past a sign that read, “Close your umbrella in this area!”
“There has to be a story behind this sign,” I told my guide.
“Of course,” she replied. “Some years ago, we received a tigress who had belonged to some private person. She mated with our male tiger, and they had four babies. Before the babies arrived, we had no problems with either tiger, but something strange happened the first time the mother took her babies out for a walk.
Maite the rhino has an allergy to dust and a yen for a back scratch.
“It was July, and it was very hot, so one of the visitors who came to see the tigers was carrying a parasol. Well, the moment the parasol was opened, the tigress was transformed. She began to roar and did her best to charge at the person carrying it. After a while, the caretakers noticed she only did this when there was an open umbrella in view, so we put up this sign, and that solved the problem.”
This story reminded Danae of what she calls The Curious Case of the Wayward Spider Monkey.
“We used to have a little island in the middle of a lagoon, and we had a number of spider monkeys living there. Every day, the staff would go to the island on a boat, feed them and come back. Well, one day, the boat somehow became detached from its mooring, and the current carried it to Monkey Island.
“So, a monkey got on it and then floated over to the shore. Well, it was four in the afternoon,.and I happened to be driving by in an electric cart with a vet, and there in the picnic area, we see this monkey walking upright on two legs and waving its arms around.
A delighted visitor takes a selfie with a coconut lorikeet in one of the zoo’s two aviaries.
“And all the people over there are kind of moving away, and they’re looking at each other and saying, ‘Wow, is this normal?’ So the two of us went over there with our arms stretched out to make a kind of human barricade between the people and the monkey because we didn’t know if it might be aggressive.
“Finally, it came to a tree, climbed it and fortunately stayed there until we recaptured it and took it back home.”
My visit to the zoo ended at its famed Antarctica Habitat, featuring rare Adélie and gentoo penguins.
This was definitely my first experience standing close to penguins of any kind, and what a delightful experience it was. It seemed like a penguin telenovela (soap opera) was in full swing inside that below-zero enclosure, with each of them running about, discussing serious matters with everyone else and then taking a break by diving into the icy water.
The zoo’s aquarium. Here a group of five people can feed sharks while submerged inside an acrylic capsule.
“I think if you came to the zoo and spent all of your time only watching penguins, you’d consider your day very well spent. And I guess I would have to say the same thing about the orangutans… and the macaws and…
Well, I think you get the idea. If you ever have a chance to visit the Guadalajara Zoo, do it!
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on hisblog.
The zoo is located just a three-minute drive from Guadalajara’s northern Ring Road and overlooks the 500-meter-deep Barranca de Huentitán.
The mile-long Sky Zoo allows visitors to see everything that’s going on from a height of over 15 meters.
Tropical Storm Roslyn approaches the Pacific coast in this satellite photo, taken at 10 a.m. Friday morning. NOAA via AP
Tropical storm Roslyn – forecast to become a hurricane Friday night – is on track to make landfall in Jalisco or Nayarit Saturday night or Sunday.
Roslyn was just below hurricane strength at 4 p.m Central Time and located 300 kilometers south-southwest of Manzanillo, Colima, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory.
A hurricane warning is in effect between Playa Perula, Jalisco, and San Blas, Nayarit, an area that includes Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. The warning also affects the Islas Marías, an archipelago of four islands off the coast of Nayarit. A hurricane watch is in effect for the area north of San Blas to Mazatlán, Sinaloa.
The NHC said that Roslyn had maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometers per hour with higher gusts at 4 p.m., and that the storm was moving west-northwest at 11 km/h.
This map shows areas with hurricane warnings and Tropical Storm Roslyn’s probable path, as determined by the U.S. National Hurricane Center. U.S. NHC / NOAA
“A turn toward the northwest and north-northwest is forecast tonight, followed by a northward and then north-northeastward motion Saturday and Saturday night. On the forecast track, the center of Roslyn will move parallel to the southwestern coast of Mexico today and tonight, then approach the coast of west-central Mexico, making landfall along this coastline Saturday night or Sunday,” it said.
The NHC said that “steady to rapid strengthening” is forecast “during the next day or so,” adding that the storm is expected to become a hurricane Friday night. A category 1 hurricane has sustained winds of 119-153 km/h, meaning that Roslyn was only nine kilometers short of hurricane status at 4 p.m.
The NHC said that Roslyn is expected to still be a hurricane when it makes landfall and noted that tropical storm strength winds could be experienced on land by midday Saturday, “making outside preparations difficult or dangerous.”
“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the Florida-based authority said.
The NCH said that the northern coast of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and southeastern Sinaloa are expected to receive 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) of rain with maximum falls of 8 inches (20 cm).
“This rainfall could lead to flash flooding and landslides in areas of rugged terrain,” it said, adding that “a dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center [of Roslyn] makes landfall.”
The hurricane center also warned of “large and destructive waves” accompanying the surge.
“Swells generated by Roslyn are affecting portions of the coast of southwestern Mexico and will spread northward to the coast of west-central Mexico and the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula through the weekend,” the NHC said. “These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
Roslyn is the 18th named storm of the 2022 Pacific hurricane season, excluding Hurricane Bonnie, which crossed into the Pacific from the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Agatha, the first named storm of the Pacific season, claimed lives and caused significant damage after it made landfall in Oaxaca on May 30.
